Many interactive television systems allow television viewers to use their televisions to browse hypertext markup language (HTML) content, such as Internet websites. However, for some viewers, HTML content displayed on a television can be difficult to read, for example, due to poor eyesight. HTML includes functionality that allows an HTML developer to include alternate content associated with an HTML element. Examples of alternate content include text in a large font, or an audio description of an image. Some HTML browser applications written for use on computer systems include functionality for accessing alternate content, but typically rely on pointing devices, such as a mouse. Unfortunately, interactive television systems generally support user interaction through a television remote control and do not include a pointing device. As such, interactive television systems lack a mechanism for allowing viewers to access alternate content in HTML documents.